The present invention relates to the use of pure boswellic acid, a physiologically acceptable salt, a derivative, a salt of said derivative or a vegetable preparation containing boswellic acid for the production of a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of brain tumours.
The present invention also relates to the use of pure boswellic acid, a physiologically acceptable salt, a derivative, a salt of said derivative or a vegetable preparation containing boswellic acid for the treatment of brain tumours.
The possibilities known to date for the therapeutical treatment of brain tumours are unsatisfactory:
So far, the possibilities for a treatment of malignant brain tumours are insufficient. Neurosurgical removal of the brain tumours represents severe surgery and, depending on type, size and position of the brain tumours, in many cases does not lead to the complete removal of the malignant tumours. For these reasons, the average survival of the patients suffering from malignant brain tumours is only about 9 months even after a combined treatment including surgery and radiotherapy. An additional chemotherapy using the cytostatics known so far is able to achieve a prolongation of the survival of only about 10% (Lesser, G. J., Grossman S., The chemotherapy of high-grade astrocytomas, Seminars in Oncology, 1994, 21:220-235).
Glucocorticosteroids have been used for the symptomatic treatment which, however. are not able to effectively reduce the peritumoural brain oedemas so that their use does achieve the desired success.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide the use of preparations useful for the treatment of brain tumours, the inhibition of the peritumoural brain oedema as well as the growth of tumour cells, and for the destruction of the tumour cells. In particular. there is provided a preparation which, without exhibiting the side effects and the reduced efficiency accompanying the use of the cytostatics employed to date for the therapy of tumours, allow a significantly more efficient treatment of brain tumours. The pharmaceutical composition or preparation, respectively, provided according to the invention is intended to show a lower toxicity and, therefore, to be well tolerated by the patients. Much research has been carried out to provide a pharmaceutical composition of that type (De Vita, D., Helman, S., Rosenberg, S. A. (eds.), Cancer--Principles and Practice of Oncology, 4th edition, 1993, J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia; Lesser, G. J., Grossman, S., The chemotherapy of high-grade astrocytomas, Seminars in Oncology, 1994, 21:220-235), documenting the high demand for the creation of such a pharmaceutical composition.
Now, it has been surprisingly found that boswellic acid, a physiologically acceptable salt, a derivative, a salt of said derivative or a vegetable preparation containing boswellic acid is effective for the treatment of brain tumours.
India's ayurvedic medicine uses pharmaceutical compositions containing preparations from the plant Boswellia serrata for the treatment of inflammation but also of rheumatism. However, there are no publications containing evidence as to the treatment of brain tumours using these pharmaceutical compositions. Due to the efficacy of preparations from the plant Boswellia serrata in the treatment of inflammable diseases this gum has already been examined with respect to its components. Thus, Pardhy & Bhattacharyya report (Ind. J. Chem., 16B:176-178, 1978) that Boswellia serrata contains essentially the following components:
.beta.boswellic acid, acetyl-.beta.-boswellic acid, acetyl-11-keto-.beta.-boswellic acid, 11-keto-.beta.-boswellic acid.